Devon County Council has apologised to the thousands of drivers caught up in long queues which followed several failures of the traffic lights at Penn Inn, Newton Abbot, in the past month.

Complaints flooded in after it became clear the problem was far from a one-off.

On at least nine occasions motorists found themselves unable to move either side of the major roundabout, which is due to be supplemented with a flyover as part of the £110 million Kingskerswell bypass project.

Cllr Gordon Hook, who represents Buckland and Milber, described the situation as 'a sick joke' and pointed out the problems had only occurred since the lights were replaced at a cost of £50,000 a year ago.